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Train conductor killed in 'freak accident'

By Barbara Czura - email
Posted by Dana Franks - email

ALBERTVILLE, AL (WAFF) - A tragic train accident killed a conductor as his train derailed and crushed him.

The incident happened at the Progress Railroad off Industrial Boulevard in Albertville, where Dustin Price Moles, 33, of Gadsden worked as a conductor since 2005. Before that, he was a police officer at Glencoe Police Department.

Investigators called Moles' death part of a freak accident. Albertville police brought WAFF 48 News as close as possible to the accident site. The train derailment occurred on private property, so the area is closed due to the ongoing investigation.

Albertville Assistant Police Chief Doug Pollard said Moles was standing on the platform of a tanker at the back of the 75 car, Alabama/Tennessee River Railroad Train. The train was moving about three mile per hour but somehow derailed.

"They were backing some old railroad cars into Progress Rail and one of the back where the victim was derailed and kind of crushed him between the tanker he was on and the scrap metal," Pollard said.

Investigators with Albertville's police and fire departments were called to the scene, and it took about four hours to remove Mole's body. Investigators are still trying to figure out how it happened.

"The federal agents with the railroad are down there at this time finishing up their investigation," Pollard said.

Police said this was the second train-related fatality in Albertville the past year.

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